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I’m Moxie. I’m an artist, author, cat lover, and surprisingly shy people-person. Hi-Fiber Kits is my playground and I’m inviting you to join me.
What is felt? Start from the beginning or else!
Felt is the oldest textile known to human kind. Made without sewing or weaving, felt is traditionally a matted fabric. The word “felt” comes from Latin and originally it meant “to beat.”
The birth of the first piece of felt is more legend than fact. The version I like best involves a woman wandering the desert long ago, before the invention of footwear. As this barefoot woman led her camel across the desert, the sand became too hot for her feet. (I suppose this was also before the invention of “The desert is $*#@*ing hot!”) To protect herself and continue on her journey, she tore off clumps of the camel’s hair and wrapped them around her feet. Finally sunset came and the heat subsided. She removed the wrappings and noticed that the camel hair on the soles of her feet had become flat and solid. Her sweat had added moisture, the sand had added heat, and the action of walking on the camel hair had entangled it, turning it into flat sheets of felt.
Ok, but “needle felting?” What is it that you do here?
Needle or “dry” felting is the process of turning wool fiber into felt using barbed needles that force the wool fiber to attach to itself. (Industrial felt is made using thousands of these needles.) The felting needle is punched or pushed repeatedly through the wool fiber which locks the fiber together. You can uses felting needles to create intricate designs and 3-dimensional shapes. I call it “fiber alchemy” because it’s so magical when the wool changes and takes shape.
But, don’t you need water? Also, can’t you wash a knitted thing and make felt?
I’m a needle-felt-aholic so Hi-Fiber Kits is all about bringing awesome needle felting kits and supplies to the people. Having said that, the key to felting is entangling wool fibers so that they become permanently joined and there are lots of ways to do that. Some felting methods require wetting of the wool fibers then agitating to cause the fibers to felt. Another way to create felt is to start with a knitted, crotched or woven base fabric. Putting this into a hot washing machine will cause the same reaction as hand felting wool fiber. The fabric will shrink and matte. After that, you can cut, sew, embroider and embellish the felt you’ve created without fraying!
It’s easier than you think and completely addictive. The possibilities are endless and most of the projects here can be finished in about the same time it takes to watch your favorite movie.
Felting needles are extremely sharp. Children ages 6 – 12 years of age should not try this without direct supervision. Having said that, I’ve taught lots of children to needle felt safely. As long as you’re watching, I trust you to know what your kid can do. (Also, say “hi” and tickle ’em for me, would ya?)
I want to make my creations smooth like yours. How do you do that?
This is a hard thing to teach over the internet, but my best advice is this: working in patches, add very thin wisps of fiber using teeny tiny pokes all over the surface. Teeny tiny pokes tac the fiber layer down, forming a smoother outer layer.
Did these project ideas come out of your brain meat?
Yep. I’m crazy like that.
Are the tutorials really free? Don’t you have to pay rent and stuff?
I love to spread the good news about needle felting to far more people than I have time to meet. I want you to be able to play with my techniques and ideas without the burden of monies getting in the way of our relationship. I provide lots of cool supplies that you can buy, but the ideas? Those are my present to you.
Is it ok if I make your projects and then sell what I make?
Even though my projects and instructions are free for you to use, they are copyrighted works that I sweated over because I want to make you happy. They’re intended for personal use only. I have no doubt that you can use the skills you learn from my projects to create great original works of your own to enjoy or sell as you wish.
When there’s time, I love to teach the people. Make sure you sign up for the newsletter to find out about upcoming workshop opportunities. If you’d like to arrange for me come to your town or fiber store to hold a workshop, drop me a line and we’ll see what we can work out!
Can you make something for me to buy instead of me having to make it myself? Pretty please?
I’d like to, but I don’t always have time. Drop me a line if you’d like to ask me about making you something special and we’ll see what we can work out.
Do you have any finished work available? Where can I see your art?
My artist headquarters is at moxielieberman.com